Anglican Province of America (APA) - Traditional Anglican Church (TAC) Full Communion Agreement

MEDIA RELEASE 

FULL COMMUNION AGREEMENT

(COMMUNIO IN SACRIS)

BETWEEN

THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF AMERICA AND

THE TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN CHURCH

February 16, 2022.

Dearly Beloved in Christ,Please find provided with this media release the official concordat which establishes full sacramental communion (communio in sacris) between the Anglican Province of America (APA) and the Traditional Anglican Church (TAC). The concordat was unanimously approved by the TAC College of Bishops on 3rd February 2022 and by the APA House of Bishops on 11th February 2022.

This full communion agreement advances the growing unity of Continuing Anglicans worldwide, and links two greater portions of the Continuing Church together for the first time, expanding upon the existing full communion agreement between the Anglican Province of America and the Anglican Church in America (the American Province of the Traditional Anglican Church). It is also the first agreement establishing full communion between another Continuing Anglican jurisdiction and the entire global Traditional Anglican Church.

Let us pray that this effort toward the reunification of the Continuing Anglican Churches will bear fruit in the Kingdom of God, and enliven further ecumenical discussions with our brethren across the Anglican Continuum. This is another important step forward in reuniting the Continuing Anglican Churches as we seek to strengthen our common witness in our Lord Jesus Christ, to His saving Gospel, and to the historic Anglican tradition within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

Together, the Anglican Province of America and the Traditional Anglican Church have achieved another stage in the direction towards the reconciliation and reunification of the Christian Church in her Anglican expression.

This Concordat will be formally signed at a Solemn Pontifical Mass at Saint Barnabas Cathedral in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, May 22, 2022, being the Fifth Sunday After Easter.

May we all be one - Ut unum sint!

The Most Reverend Chandler Holder Jones, SSC
Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Eastern United States

The Most Reverend Shane B. Janzen, OSG
Primate of the Traditional Anglican Church Metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of Canada West

AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING FULL SACRAMENTAL COMMUNION 

(COMMUNIO IN SACRIS)

BETWEEN
THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF AMERICA

AND

THE TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN CHURCH

THE Anglican Province of America (together with the APA Global Mission Partners set out in the attached Schedule) and the Traditional Anglican Church, desiring to walk together in the Way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believing and upholding the Christian Faith and Catholic Religion, and particularly as the same was received and is expressed in the historic Anglican Tradition, and seeking full sacramental communion (communio in sacris) one with the other, do hereby agree and bind ourselves to the following Agreement:

1. We do, in accordance with this Agreement, enter into full sacramental communion (communio in sacris) one with the other; and do thereby recognize each other’s Orders, Liturgy, Doctrine, and Discipline, while respecting the canonical independence and doctrinal integrity of each Church.

2. We acknowledge each other to be orthodox and catholic Anglicans in virtue of our common adherence to the fundamental principles and authorities accepted by and summarized in The Affirmation of Saint Louis (1977).

3. We recognize in each other in all essentials the same faith; the same sacraments; the same moral teaching; and the same worship; likewise, we recognize in each other the same Holy Orders of bishops, priests, and deacons in the same Apostolic Succession.

4. We do by this Agreement admit all members in good standing of each Church to full participation in the liturgy of each Church and to receive the Sacraments one of the other.

5. We recognize and honor the jurisdictional integrity of each Church, seeking always to respect the authority of each with regard to its parishes, clergy and people.

6. We do by this Agreement recognize and encourage the clergy of each Church to minister, preach, and otherwise participate in the liturgy of each Church, subject always to the canonical discipline and liturgical practice of the respective Church and the prior expressed permission of the respective Bishops Ordinary.

7. We recognize and respect that the clergy of each Church remain under the authority of their respective Bishop Ordinary until they are transferred by Letters Dimissory or other instruments of transfer. We will permit no clergy to transfer from one jurisdiction to another without the permission of the Bishop Ordinary who has licensed him.

8. While seeking unity with other Christians within the fellowship of the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and working for a true restoration of the visible Unity of all orthodox Christians, it is our desire to preserve and maintain our Anglican identity; that is to say, to uphold and remain faithful to the Catholic Faith, Apostolic Order, Orthodox Worship, and Evangelical Witness of the historic Anglican Tradition revealed in Holy Writ, defined in the three Creeds, maintained by the undivided primitive Church in the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.

SCHEDULE

The Missionary District of the Caribbean (APA)
The Missionary District of the Philippines (APA)
The Indigenous Pastoral of the Anglican Province of America in Ecuador

NOW THEREFORE, with faith in the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, We do enter into this Agreement of Full Sacramental Communion (communio in sacris), proclaiming thereby our Christian Faith, our Anglican inheritance, and our desire to maintain the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.